What President Obama should have added to his speech

Wednesday

Jun 18, 2014 at 6:00 AMJun 18, 2014 at 10:08 AM

By Peter S. Cohan WALL & MAIN

As a Worcester native, I could not resist the emotional tug of the President of the United States visiting the city on June 11. I was watching his speech to the Worcester Technical High School on the computer in my office at Babson College, and was particularly interested in his comments to the students about the importance of giving back to the community.

He got very close to saying something I wish he had said.

Before getting into that, I was particularly taken by the photographs of a smaller version of Air Force One that was able to land at the Worcester Regional Airport, and all the security that protected his motorcade from the airport to the DCU Center.

I also wondered whether anyone in his security detail was reading the comments on the articles written in the Telegram & Gazette about his visit to the city. I thought about what it must be like for him to travel around the country and become emotionally hardened to the reality that in most of the communities that he visits, a minority of individuals use their freedom of speech to express blind hatred.

Most of all, in viewing parts of the graduation ceremony, I was struck by President Obama's decency, intelligence, earnestness, and humility. At the same time that he was being bombarded by pressing command decisions — such as what to do about the collapsing order in Iraq — he was cheerfully sitting on stage listening to Worcester Tech graduation speakers and chatting with the students sitting on either side of him.

From the reports that I enjoyed reading about his interaction with the students, I realized that he was fully aware of how intimidating it could be to sit next to the leader of the free world, and what a nice job he did of making the students feel comfortable with his presence.

Ultimately his visit to Worcester — capped by shaking the hand or giving a hug to each graduate — will mark one of the highlights of the lives of the students, their families, and everyone who works at Worcester Tech.

His graduation speech certainly helped him make an emotional connection with those in attendance. I am guessing that his staff learned about the key people in the student's lives at Worcester Tech and wove their anecdotes into his speech. Moreover, Mr. Obama connected with them by portraying himself as a former high school student and the father of one soon to graduate.

But the substantive part of his speech that particularly caught my attention was the idea that students have an obligation to give back to the community.

As he said, "The point is, a lot of people made an investment in you. I can't imagine a better investment. But as you experience your success and as you experience setbacks, you need to remember everything that's been put into making sure that you had opportunity. Which brings me to the second thing I hope you remember when you leave here: You're going to also have to give back. This community invested in you. You've got to make sure that you use those gifts."

Mr. Obama also gave some good examples of what giving back might entail. He explained, "That may mean staying in Worcester and working for one of the companies that helped train you. If it means going to college or the military, or using your skills to help more students get the same opportunities that you've had here, no matter what it is that you do, no matter what path you take, I want to make sure that you understand the incredible leadership that we now expect from you."

The one thing I would have added to this part of the speech would be to ask those so inclined — such as some of the students whose accomplishments he mentioned at the emotionally uplifting conclusion of his speech — to start businesses in Worcester.

Turning an idea into a profitable enterprise that serves customers, employees, and the community would let those talented students do well by doing good. By creating local jobs, they would help local residents build families, attract new people to the city, put local graduates to work, boost the local tax base, and enhance the value of its real estate.

Mr. Obama's speech last Wednesday certainly has the potential to change the lives of many of the Worcester Tech graduates. And I hope that if they heed his advice to give back to the community some of them will do so by starting a business in Worcester.

Peter Cohan of Marlboro heads a management consulting and venture capital firm, and teaches business strategy and entrepreneurship at Babson College. His email address is peter@petercohan.com.